Fireworks, not Shooting Stars
by huamulan03
Summary: Meteor Garden drabbles feat. Rui x Tsukushi HZL x SC. Rereleased to commemorate the kickoff of F4's 2006 concert tour in Hong Kong.
1. Qing Tian One Fine Day

Meteor Garden Drabbles: FIREWORKS, NOT SHOOTING STARS: The Vignettes

**title QING TIAN (One Fine Day)**  
**author huamulan03**  
**fandom** Meteor Garden/Hana Yori Dango  
**pairing** Rui X Tsukushi or HZL X SC. If you 'ship otherwise, I suggest you bail NOW.  
**summary/spoilers** SC POV, companion to next-to-be-posted Ke Shi Wo Ai Ta (But I Love Her), part of huamulan03's _Fireworks, Not Shooting Stars_ universe. Story-wise, departs for parts unknown three-quarters through MGII EP28.  
**disclaimer/acknowledgments** I don't own HYD or LXHY/MG (I and II) -- Kamio Yoko-sensei and Angie Tsai do. Don't own any of the F4 songs I used either; they're copyrighted by their respective owners. No infringement intended, no profit made.

---------------------------------

_Shan Cai, return with me to Japan..._

Shan Cai absently watched Changi International Airport come into view as the China Airlines flight she was on banked in preparation for descent. Along with the runway lights, an island-worth of night lamps twinkled, a dreamlike welcoming committee making a tentative bid for attention.

But she didn't notice.

_Refused_ to notice or appreciate would be more like it, an inner voice noted sarcastically and Shan Cai -- similarly -- paid her conscience no heed. She HAD seen them but there were other things to think about.

_You understand what I'm saying?_

As her talkative conscience very well knew...

The unsettling memory replaying in her mind and striking an uneasy chord in her heart, Shan Cai rethought her earlier dismissal and silently demanded, what of it? Why do I have to waste time on things that SHOULD be there? she grumbled.

She ignored the appeasing comeback as her conscience made a play for reason. 'They're just lights,' my foot! Shan Cai mentally snorted even as she traced the evolution of why she was being so stingy with regard and appreciation.

At this point in her life, Shan Cai tended to mistrust any thing that illuminated the night sky, including those that were manmade in her sweeping condemnation. City lights, stars, meteor showers -- take your pick; no difference existed between them.

Night lights never boded good for her, regardless of the breath-stealing happiness they brought in the beginning.

And she would rather be oblivious throughout, heart-whole in the end, protected by a hard-won indifference.

And speaking of indifference...

_Shan Cai, return with me to Japan. You understand what I'm saying?_

Her thoughts coming back full circle, she opted to interrogate Lei's memory-self flippantly: OH-kay. Who ARE you and what have you done with Hua Ze Lei? It was a weak offense but in her present denial mode, it was the floundering best she could do.

She suspected that that turning point in their relationship would forever have the power to unsettle her. For the foundation of that seemingly simple request had been...bewildering.

And later, when she realized the irony of it all --

-- heart-wrenching.

Damn, but fate -- _ming yun_ -- had it in for her.

As had been proven conclusively to Shan Cai over the past year, a lucid memory was a bane, not a blessing. She remembered -- with photographic sharpness -- just how serious Lei had been when he'd extended that invitation; his seriousness, his gravity, had come as a surprise, even to herself. And to think, she'd already considered that his normal bearing elevated solemnity to a whole new level.

But what had been more surprising was the sense of urgency (and something she'd dared not name then) lacing his voice when, in follow-up, he'd asked if she'd grasped the real significance of what he was demanding of her.

Lei. Mr. _Wo-dui-bie-ren-de-shi-mei-qing-xu,_ I-could-care-less-about-other-people had sounded -- and acted -- like a world depended on her answer.

And she couldn't give it.

Not then.

Not with the same relative ease with which she'd responded to his preceding, "Let's go back to Taipei" offer. THAT she'd immediately answered with, "Tomorrow," albeit resignedly.

_You don't need to rush. You know I'll wait._

Now, more that ninety tomorrows after, he had her reply: she'd left home, left Taipei for who knew how long, and was about to set foot on a strange land, another strange airport. How she ended up southwest of Taiwan, near the equator, when the original plan was to head northeast -- to Tokyo -- continued to bemuse her.

It was the whole Hawaii thing again, she reflected, drawing her own personal analogy. Many, many new moons ago, she'd told her childhood friend Qing He that she wanted to visit that idyllic island, even just once in her lifetime. Of course, they hadn't been able to figure out then how she was gonna reach the beaches of Waikiki when a simple holiday in Kenting already stretched her financial resources; they'd been evading goons hell-bent on bullying at the time...

Regardless of money constraints, the point remained the same though, Shan Cai conceded on a sigh. In the overall scheme of destiny, she could wish...and wish...and wish... and still come no closer to having her dreams fulfilled. In her own estimation, she was cursed. For as certain as the sun rose in the east (and as borne out by her recent past), some kind of force always ended up diverting her from her course.

Furthermore, migrating to Singapore wasn't as out there as she was making it out to be, she mused. Didn't the Chinese naturally gravitate towards the south, following the orientation of the compass they'd invented? That must be it, she decided gratefully; Shan Cai was as Chinese as they came, so south seeking must come as a matter of course.

Instinctive migratory patterns, however, still didn't explain why, of late, a lot of her milestones took place in or around airports, a wisecracking voice piped up. Gee, stupid much? She nearly smacked the smart aleck that resembled her cow hand puppet for going down that route. She managed not to. Barely. And that only because people would think her a loony if she started whapping herself upside the head.

Becoming fast friends with the jet-setting F4 would make hanging around airports a logical outcome, she told the cow and herself on a duh-you're-so-dumb note. She unconsciously echoed the ghost of a familiar complaint -- _ben nu ren!_ -- and a routine ache made itself felt with her reproach.

Most of the time, she, living up to that _stupid woman_ tag, was never the one leaving, Shan Cai went on doggedly, trying to tame the escalating pain. She was the one more frequently left behind; left to watch planes take off for parts unknown...

Except...

There had been two, count 'em, TWO, times when she hadn't been one of those tearfully waving bye-bye. First had been that holiday in Okinawa. The second was when she'd vacationed in Barcelona.

Ouch. She downplayed the stab that aimed for her heart and struck bull's eye.

More than the thought of shooting stars and surprising invites, recalling Barcelona brought a pain verging on agonizing. _Don't_ go there, she lectured herself sternly. To punctuate her order, she took a deep, bracing breath, her eyelids fluttering close.

Self-preservation alone should've kept her -- literally and figuratively -- away from the place responsible for her heart having gotten irrevocably broken, she complained while grabbing for some sort of saving distance. Because Shan Cai sure as heck wasn't ever returning to the capital of Catalunya.

Japan though. Japan was another matter altogether. Okinawa, however bittersweet, was a good memory. And who knew, maybe next time, she could replace the poignant with an uncomplicated happy?

She opened her eyes, striking a deal with herself. She would save up half her salary every month -- that is if she could keep the job magnanimously offered her and which, considering her shaky mastery of the English language, was another question mark -- and eventually make her way back to Japan.

In the meantime, she also promised that she would make every conceivable effort not to be a stranger in a strange land, to create a new, albeit temporary, home for herself in Singapore. She even vowed to drum up some unconditional enthusiasm for her first sight of the place, once she was back on firm ground.

For now though... She fumbled with her seat belt. This being only her fifth time on a plane, she wanted to make sure she hadn't forgotten to fasten it securely. As if someone read her mind, a melodious voice reminded passengers over the PA system to keep cell phones switched off and seat belts fastened.

Cool hands nudged hers away from the metal clasp she was fiddling with, arranging them decorously on her lap. The person responsible gave her hands a squeeze, a thumb caressing the flower tattooed on her right hand, before announcing in a soft voice, "It's okay as it is."

Her gaze swiveled towards the man seated beside her. Her stomach dipped and not because the plane nosed another several hundred feet down as it made a beeline for the runway.

He always knew how and when to reassure her, Shan Cai marveled, her awe and gratitude mingling. Even without her having to utter a word. She regretted her earlier episodes of doubt. She blinked away the misty sheen she knew would be obvious in her gaze, her lips curling upwards; her smile elicited one to match -- all the more precious for being rare -- from her male companion.

_Every second, there's a story that ends...and another one begins._

Well, I'm not headed for Japan today, she repeated to herself.

But at least, wherever I'm going, I'm going there with...Lei.

-------------------------

_Wo kan ze na pian qing tian_  
_Yong ni he wo de zuo tian_  
_Feng man man chui_  
_Chui gan lian shang de yu shui_  
_Wo zou zai na pian qing tian_  
_Ba ni zai hao hao xiang yi bian_  
_Wo sheng bian wen nuan de gan jue_  
_Mei gai bian_  
_Zai yao yuan_  
_Zai duo bian_  
_Ni de ai_  
_Yi zhi gen ze wo_  
_Zai wo de er duo xiao sheng shuo ni ai wo_

-- Ken Zhu (F4), **Qing Tian (One Fine Day)** from the album _Fantasy 4ever._ Hanyu Pinyin lyrics c/o **Faithful 4ever**

English lyrics translated by Kristi & Yih, from the **F4 FantasyLand** site (I seem to have lost the url):

I'm looking at that fine day  
Using our yesterdays  
Wind blows slowly  
Dries the rain on the face  
Walking under the fine day  
Thinking about you once more  
Next to me  
The feeling of warmth still hasn't changed  
No matter how far, no matter how much changes  
Your love will always follow me  
Next to my heart, a hushed voice says, "I love you"

_**credits**_

_Thanks to Lise of **F.4.N.T.A.S.Y.** for some of the show quotes; to **Mandy** for her astounding work on translating MGII; to __Faithful 4ever__ and **Kristi & Yih,** from the F4 FantasyLand site for the song lyrics; and **ecinaj0823** for beta'ing this. You guys all rock! _

_**author's note** I wrote this way back in the summer of 2003 and thought to dust it off to commemorate the kickoff on March 22 of the F4 Forever Four 2006 Concert Tour in Hong Kong. _

_I don't speak Chinese with any degree of fluency so apologies in advance, k? (Here's hoping y'all don't subscribe to DMS' "daoqian you yong de hua..." Thanks for hounding me 'bout this fic: **Jen, Stacey, Greenie, and Emi.**_

_While feedback is much appreciated, please don't tell me I'm wasting my time; as another fanfic writer, WR of the Roswell fandom, once sed, "It's my time to waste."_


	2. Ke shi wo ai ta But I love her

**title Ke shi wo ai ta (But I love her)**  
**author huamulan03**  
**fandom** Meteor Garden/Hana Yori Dango  
**pairing** Rui X Tsukushi or HZL X SC. If you 'ship otherwise, I suggest you bail NOW.  
**summary/spoilers** HZL POV, companion to QING TIAN (One Fine Day), part of huamulan03's _Fireworks, Not Shooting Stars_ universe. Story-wise, departs for parts unknown three-quarters through MGII EP28.  
**disclaimer/acknowledgments** I don't own HYD or LXHY/MG (I and II) -- Kamio Yoko-sensei and Angie Tsai do. Don't own any of the F4 songs I used either; they're copyrighted by their respective owners. No infringement intended, no profit made.

---------------------------

Wrapped in the comfortable silence typical of their most treasured moments, they shared the backseat of the Mercedes taking them to the apartment he'd rented two weeks before. Glancing up from having sent a text message to his best friends, Lei allowed a small smile to play about his lips.

Probably his hundredth for the day.

Maybe a hundred was exaggerating, he backtracked, but it still seemed to Lei that the formerly evasive show of happiness had become so pushy in the past few hours. While he -- he had transformed into the ultimate pushover, following gladness blindly into whatever uncharted territory it wanted to explore.

But Lei couldn't help it.

She was _here._ THEY were here. More importantly, they were _together._

The thought, the reality, blew him away. With the gale-force strength of a typhoon.

He felt like some discoverer exploring new terrain. And despite the uncertainty of the road ahead, he wouldn't be complaining, he averred. Definitely not, not even if he was the type to sweat the small stuff and he wasn't. It wasn't as if wallowing in angst was preferable to celebrating the fulfilment of a dream, after all. Hope late in the making, but no less powerful for the brevity of its evolution.

Nope, nuh-uh. Not just no, but HELL no, he asserted. He'd be ten kinds of fool if he even thought to protest. Moreover, there was no room left for complaining. A strange, exhilarating excitement flooded his veins, the incredible rush threatening to make his slight, self-conscious smile mutate into an uncharacteristic, goofy beam. Years of conditioning made Lei clamp down on the impulse and focus his attention back on her.

He saw that Shan Cai -- albeit on a different level -- was also excited about Singapore. Her body language spoke volumes as she peered out the car window at the passing scenery, brightly lit by street lamps. Although any more excitement and her nose would be permanently stuck to the glass, he thought fondly.

He saw that she'd already lost the battle with her natural curiosity: strive as she might for subtlety, the whip-snap swivels of her head and the constant neck-craning as she tracked points of interest in front, then behind them, gave her away. The clues were there for the reading. Even for someone oblivious.

And that was a charge that couldn't be leveled at him, he concluded a little smugly, letting the ends of her hair, fanning out as she spun back to her nose-against-window position, trail against his fingers. Lei knew he was beset by many sins (the inability to keep hands to himself when she was around being one), but cluelessness wasn't among them.

_Why couldn't you be the one I love?_

With that one exception, he thought, wincing from getting whacked on the head by a memory whizzing out of left field. That oblivious proclamation that night on the beach had been THE masterpiece in clueless. And to think he'd prided himself over his watching of and over her! Shaking his head, Lei looked around for an excuse. But none (none acceptable that is) stood up to be counted.

His defense (and a weak one at that) was that he'd been heart-bruised at the time. Suffering had made him insensitive to anything else. But still...

_Ni ai Shan Cai, dui bu dui?_

Ah Mei's question rebounded to the present, challenging Lei a second time. He inhaled deeply before plunging into the maze constituting his memories.

Ah Mei, belying her child-like exterior, had been perception personified; he in his unjustifiably shallow summation of her just hadn't seen it. And Lei had thought he was being so clever, patronizingly pointing out to the tantrum-throwing Ah Mei the fine distinction between like and love, comparing what she felt for him to how he, himself, felt about his violin.

Ah Mei -- with an unexpected maturity -- had punctured his posturings, piercing through convoluted metaphor to the truth within. After his long-winded explanation, she had remarked simply, "I don't know if you're talking about your violin or Shan Cai." A little abashed, Lei readily admitted that Shan Cai had been the subject of his needlessly intricate explanation all along.

Yes, he loved Shan Cai. _Ai,_ not merely _xi huan,_ like he'd told Ah Mei.

He'd said as much to Shan Cai when he asked her to come with him to Japan. To a promise of a new life. Away from the pain that seemed to Lei to taint every corner of Taiwan.

Every nook and cranny Shan Cai and Ah Si had made their own.

Something in the region of his chest contracted as a hushed voice whispered that all he was doing was running away. From pain. From guilt. From responsibility. It pointed out that justification aside, at the end of the day, it was still a selfish, cowardly act. Lei tried to still the voice that agitated his seemingly calm but altogether volatile emotions. _It's later than you think; you might as well accept it,_ he silently, defiantly, proclaimed, paraphrasing an enigmatic Chinese proverb.

But the specter that was his best friend still rose up to haunt him, roused by the conflicted nobility that had led to Lei stepping back and giving up Shan Cai twice before. Both morally correct decisions had been based on one fact: that it was Dao Ming Si who couldn't live without Shan Cai.

Ah Si. The missing third in their triangle. The man he considered his brother, in spite of absence of blood ties.

He struggled against the ensuing downward spiral, shutting up the cry that reverberated in his head: _Why did it have to be you? How come it has to be you?_ With effort, he shelved thoughts of Ah Si into the farthest corners of his mind, relegating them for another bout of reflection when he was capable of putting up a good fight. Sneaking another peek at Shan Cai, Lei saw that she was squinting quizzically at something. He followed her line of vision. Grateful that her attention was on The Marriott instead of him, Lei clenched his fists and forced himself to revert to less painful musings.

Remorse took a step back, replaced by his trademark pragmatism. His betrayal of Ah Si, what Ah Si (and himself) would consider his greater treachery, wouldn't lessen, even with time. Temporary cessation of recriminations would have to suffice.

He'd face reprisal stoically when it came. And he was certain it would come. As certain as two brothers, polar opposites, falling in love with the same soul.

She who possessed that soul was with him now. And he'd be damned if he let his third chance pass without making an effort to finally win her.

This time, no one would be accusing him of not going after what he wanted. Selfish? Most likely. Calculating? Probably. Swayed? Definitely not.

He could live with all that.

Because the basis of those morally correct decisions had been lacking.

Lei, too, doubted he could live without her.

-----------------------------

_Wei he hui shi ta ni shuo de qian gua jiu shi ta_  
_Ke shi wo ai ta wo mei you ban fa zai zuo jia_  
_Zhe shi mo qi hai shi zhong feng chi_  
_Yong yi yang de jue xin qu ai shang tong yi ke xin  
_  
_Dang wo xin li zhi you ta hai pa que wu fa zi ba_  
_Yi zhi fou ding wo zi ji yao ming lin wo fang qi  
__Rang er wo zhen de ke wang wo jiu shi ta de wei yi_

_Dang wo xin li zhi you ta_  
_Bu pa ren he de dai jia ye xu yao chen shi_  
_Xu yai liao bu qi de yong qi_  
_Rang er jin guan wo ke yi qu yuan liang ni_  
_Ye bu neng li rang ni oh no yin wei wo ai ta  
_  
_Zen me hui shi ni neng xiang zhi xiang shi ye wei di_  
_Wei he hui shi ta dang wo mei ban fa zai zuo jia_  
_Zhe shi mo qi hai shi zhong feng ci_  
_Yong yi yang de jue xin qu ai shang tong yi ke xin  
_  
_Dang wo xin li zhi you ta hai pa que wu fa zi ba_  
_Ye ceng zhen xin zhu fu ni neng he ta zai yi qi_  
_Qi shi bu zai hu wo zhan ta de xin ji fen zhi ji  
_  
_Dang wo xin li zhi you ta _  
_Bu pa ren he de dai jia ye xu yao chen shi _  
_Xu yao liao bu qi de yong qi_  
_Rang er cheng quan cong lai jiu bing bu shi ai yao kao lu de xi ti_  
_Oh no yin wei wo ai ta_

-- Zai Zai AKA Vic Zhou Yu Ming, **Zen Me Hui Shi Ni (How Come It's You)** from the _Fantasy 4ever_ album

English lyrics translated by Kristi & Yih, from the F4 FantasyLand site (I seem to have lost the url):

Why her? Your missing piece is she  
But I love her, I can't pretend anymore  
Is this a tacit understanding? Or is it an insult?  
Let alone our determination, we fall in love with the same "soul"

But she's the only existence in my heart, I'm frightened but it can't be helped  
The doubts I have make me want to give up  
Still, I hope to be "the one" for her

Because she's the only existence in my heart  
I'm not scared to sacrifice, to be sincere  
I need encouragement though  
Yet I can forgive you  
I can't let you have precedent over me, oh no, because I love her

How come it's you? You, my friend, are my enemy?  
Why her? I can't pretend anymore  
Is this a tacit understanding? Or is it an insult?  
Let alone our determination, we fall in love with the same "soul"

But she's the only existence in my heart, I'm frightened but it can't be helped  
I only wish that you can be with her with all my heart  
It doesn't matter how much of her heart I occupy

Because she's the only existence in my heart  
I'm not scared to sacrifice, to be sincere  
I need encouragement though  
'Cuz giving up was never a question that "love" needed to consider  
Oh no, because I love her

------------------------------------

- FIN -

credits

Thanks to Lise of **F.4.N.T.A.S.Y.** for some of the show quotes; to **Mandy** for her astounding work on translating MGII; to **Kristi & Yih** from the F4 FantasyLand site for the song lyrics; and **ecinaj0823** for beta'ing this. You guys all rock!

**author's note** _I wrote this way back in the summer of 2003 and thought to dust it off to commemorate the kickoff on March 22 of the F4 Forever Four 2006 Concert Tour in Hong Kong._

I don't speak Chinese with any degree of fluency so apologies in advance, k? (Here's hoping y'all don't subscribe to DMS' "daoqian you yong de hua..." Apologies, too, in case my HZL strays too much into OOC territory, but this remains my reading of him.

Thanks for hounding me 'bout this fic: **Greenie, Jen, Stacey, and Emi.**


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